Pubdate: Mon, 27 Oct 2014
Source: Manila Standard Today (Philippines)
Copyright: 2014 Manila Standard Today
Contact:  http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3450
Author: Dexter A. See
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

COPS RAID MARIJUANA PLANTATIONS

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union--Composite teams of police and drug
enforcement agents uprooted and destroyed marijuana plants and
seedlings worth P6.6 million in a two-day marijuana-eradication drive
in Ilocos Sur, a senior official said on Sunday.

Chief Supt. Roman Felix, police regional director, said various teams
backed by armed forces intelligence agents fanned out to locate and
destroy the plants in Barangay Licungan, Sugpon, Ilocos Sur and
destroyed 24,770 fully grown plants and 34,100 seedlings in several
plantation sites.

"Based on the standard value set by the Dangerous Drugs Board, the
uprooted marijuana plants and seedlings, including 30.5 kilograms of
dried leaves, had an estimated value of more than P6 million," Felix
said.

The uprooted plants were burned at the plantation sites after proper
documentation in the presence of barangay officials. Only samples to
serve as evidence were brought back to the PDEA office in San Fernando
City.

Marijuana is cultivated in remote parts, which are not accessible. The
illegal plant is usually cultivated in the mountain boundaries of
Benguet in the Cordillera Region, Ilocos and La Union.

Felix said their campaign will intensify in the next several weeks and
months with the cooperation of other law enforcement agencies and
their objective is to cut the supply and demand for the illegal drug.

He said the operatives failed to make arrests because the remote
plantations allowed the cultivators to get enough warning of a raid,
and they move out before the policemen arrive in the site.
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MAP posted-by: Richard